Sunday, December 25, 2011

Windows Server 2008 Tip #1: IE without restrictions

This is a very quick tip for Windows Server 2008, but very useful.

Ever had to download some sort of software to a server, but the download page had some sort of asynchronous behaviour with JavaScript? Or maybe the page had something more going on, that would just not work while using it in the server's Internet Explorer?

It happened to me recently, I wanted to download Microsoft's Productivity Hub SP1 and install it in a SharePoint farm. The server has a very good Internet connection and I was logged remotely (in a slow connection), so the best way to do it would always be downloading the files locally in the server (about 2GB).

The problem: I needed to login with my Live account to be able to download the files. Adding those sites to the Trusted Sites (they are all Microsoft sites) actually solved the login issue. But to download these files, I also had to fill in some register information, as these are not directly downloadable. That register page uses some asynchronous code that, even having the site as Trusted, would not run.

The solution is quite simple: go to the Server Manager and disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (IE ESC) for Administrators. Everything will work after disabling that. Some printscreens below.